


Pyrrha Invicta

by AthenaeGalea



Category: RWBY
Genre: Beacon never fell, EA scrupulosity cw, Gen, High variance, bittersweet at best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 09:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21176993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaeGalea/pseuds/AthenaeGalea
Summary: A brief look at Pyrrha’s life as the Fall Maiden.





	Pyrrha Invicta

**Author's Note:**

> _Coughs nervously._ So, this was a little different from my usual writing and I still have no idea whether or not it’s worth the paper it’s written on.

Jasmine considered the grimm lurking under the treeline carefully. They would be attacking in a moment, but every second they delayed, for whatever reasons could compel such creatures, was a second more for help to arrive and for the children and elderly to fortify their bunker. As they suddenly, all together, burst forth, beowolves and ursae rolling like thunder, deathstalkers primal nightmares of chittering and chitin, nevermores taking off to darken the sky, Jasmine ordered her men to open fire.

The barrage was deafening, the boom of the heavy weapons and crack of anti-air guns interspersed within the roar of assault rifles. No consideration for ammunition was made.

Great gashes opened in the moving wall, tens of the implacable enemies of mankind cut down within moments. It was not enough.

Missiles flew from the arms of a new Paladin, standing tall atop the wall. The great machine readied itself with surprising grace as it prepared to go toe-to-toe with monsters stronger than a dozen men. That, too, would be insufficient.

The terrible wave crashed against the fortifications, which buckled but did not yet break. But unlike any human attack, there was not even a moment’s reprieve. More would leap through the evaporating bodies of the first rank, rapidly overwhelming the thin line of defenders. Even as Jasmine watched, slotting a new magazine into her rifle, the Paladin fell, an ursa tearing into the cockpit and ripping the woman inside out, to be torn apart by the lesser beasts.

Now only the left flank still held the wall and the grimm pushed along it, forcing the beleaguered defenders to fight on two fronts.

It was then that the angel appeared.

The clouds themselves obeyed her as she rose into the air on wings of flame, crimson hair flying behind her in the storm that heralded her coming. She waved a hand and lightning struck up and down the line, destroying dozens of grimm and sending both attackers and defenders reeling. A sudden gale threw the nevermores to the ground, where they were quickly trampled in the confusion. From her hands flew fire and her eyes held the avenger’s flame. The ranks of grimm withered like leaves in an inferno, leaving the injured remnants of the militia to pick themselves off the ground, terrified and awestruck.

In the quiet aftermath, Pyrrha had tried desperately to keep the man under her care alive, but by the time trained medics arrived with the force of soldiers despatched to rescue the village, he had slipped away from her, adding one more unknown name to the list of her failures, along with all the others who fell in the desperate battle.

Jasmine hobbled up to her.

“I truly can’t thank you enough. You have saved the lives of every man, woman and child in our village. Who are you?”

“Pyrrha Nikos. I received your distress call.”

“And thank Dust for that. But... what did you _ do_?”

Pyrrha just smiled sadly.

After gratefully accepting as much food as she could carry (she’d long ago learned that offering to pay was a waste of time), Pyrrha set off in the vague direction of Beacon. She needed to check in with Ozpin, but there would doubtless be other interruptions on the way.

  


Finally, she arrived. Ozpin walked her to the great vault and the blasphemous machine. A quick check later that the unusual acquisition of her powers was having no new adverse effects, they took the elevator back up to the ground floor, and the doors opened.

“Pyrrha!” She was immediately knocked over by an orange cannonball.

For the first time in weeks, Pyrrha’s face broke into a smile. “Hello Nora.” She looked up. “Thank you all for meeting me.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Jaune reached a hand down to help her up, which she gladly accepted.

Ozpin smiled at the four. “Miss Nikos, you are to spend the next week with your team. That is an order.” He walked off and left them to their reunion.

Pyrrha turned to the other three. Jaune was closest, so she hugged him first. Ren was next, then Nora again, since she was bouncing so excitedly.

The rest of the day was wonderful. She caught up with their recent hunts and how RWBY and SSSN and CFVY and the rest were getting on.

Ruby had increased the calibre of Crescent Rose and Weiss said she was having some trouble adjusting to the recoil, leading to some… unflattering incidents, as Ren said she’d put it, though Ruby insisted it would be better in the long run.

Coco had finally begun the bespoke Hunter tailoring service she’d occasionally considered. Weiss swore by her clothing.

Weiss herself was doing well with the SDC, she and Blake dragging it kicking and screaming into conforming with their vision.

Finally, though, Pyrrha went to bed, alone, with her thoughts drifting back to that village.

_ What would have happened had I not been there? _ It was all too easy to imagine. The militia had been on the verge of total collapse and the bunker the civilians had been hiding in would have held off the horde for only a few minutes.

Her mind went back to the first time she had been too late, to find only fly-covered, eviscerated bodies in a charnel-house ankle-deep in blood. That could have happened again that day.

That could happen _ tomorrow _.

She got up for some water, just for something to do. How many lives had she saved, overall? Hundreds? Easily hundreds. _ Not enough. You failed too many. _

How many lives could she save in the next week?

_ Let’s say I’ve saved three hundred total. That’s over... has it really been four years? So that’s about one every five days. _

_ I can’t stay here. _

She stumbled back into her bedroom with a glass and grabbed her travelling bag. Food... it was 3:00am, but the supermarkets would be open. Everything else was packed, out of habit. Change, fill her water bottles, leave. She could call her team and explain in the morning.

“You couldn’t sleep?” Jaune, it seemed, had heard her moving around.

“No! I was... to get water. I’m sorry I woke you up!”

He smiled at her. “No, I couldn’t sleep either. I guess we’ve both seen too much.”

“I guess so.” _ Don’t notice the bag. _

As if by magic, “Checking your kit? You’ve spent too much time in the wilds...” The pieces came together, and he looked at her with sad eyes, “You’re leaving?”

The thoughts came tumbling out, “I _ have _ to! People are dying because I’m here. I’m not worth that. I can’t...”

“Not worth it! Pyrrha, you are the best person I know. If anyone is worth it, it’s you.”

“I know!” _ That came out wrong. _ “This isn’t about me. _ No-one _ is worth that. I will not kill hundreds for my own happiness.”

Jaune was utterly bewildered. “You’re not killing anyone! You can’t take responsibility for the whole world, you know.”

“I...” She’d never be able to explain this. “I have to go.”

“Go!?” Nora, it seemed, had heard them despite their best efforts. “You’re going!? Jaune, tell her she can’t go!”

“Nora, I’m sorry. I have to.” Tears began to burn in her eyes. Ren joined them as well, his face unreadable.

“Ozpin told you not to.” Jaune tried another tack.

“Because he doesn’t want me to be like him. But that is not his choice.”

“We need you.” Nora looked as dejected as Pyrrha had ever seen her.

“I’m sorry. They need me more.”

So Pyrrha Nikos, victor of the Vytal Tournament, the Fall Maiden, a light of hope to all mankind, stepped again onto the long road, wreathed in tears.

**Author's Note:**

> If you could tell me what you thought of this, I’d be very grateful. Even if it’s just “This was awful and pretentious as all get-out. Don’t bother doing it again.”  
Either way, thank you for reading.


End file.
